The Forsaken
'Leadership & Hostility' 'Hostility Index' New Lordaeron - Hostile The Horde - Neutral The Scourge - Hostile The Darrowmere Protectorate - Neutral The Argent Crusade - Neutral The Grand Alliance - Unfriendly Kul Tiras - Unfriendly The Forsaken Resistance - disputed (Belmont's Forsaken - Friendly, Richard's Forsaken - Hated) 'Leadership' (Disputed) Deathstalker Commander Belmont (Disputed) Grand Apothecary Richard 'Lore' In the wake of Illidan's failed attempt to melt the icy continent of Northrend, the powerful energies possessed by the Lich King inside his Frozen Throne slowly began to decay. Inexorably this resulted in a partial loss of control of the more distant Scourge forces. The result was that many undead under the Lich King's mental domination had their conscious will restored. Their spirits and memories were somehow returned to their undead bodies. Even the Lich King's champion, Arthas, began to weaken as the Lich King's power waned. Arthas the death knight and his lieutenant Kel'Thuzad the lich were suddenly thrust into an undead civil war. Still fanatically loyal to the Lich King, Arthas heeded the call of his master and returned to Northrend as Illidan launched his second attempt to destroy the Lich King directly. Arthas left Kel'Thuzad in command of his forces when he departed. With Arthas' departure from Lordaeron, the three Dreadlords Balnazzar, Varimathras, and Detheroc attempted to regain control over the undead forces in Lordaeron using their formidable mental powers. The former high elf Sylvanas Windrunner rallied many of the newly freed undead to counter the Dreadlords' efforts. Sylvanas was amazingly successful and not only crushed the Dreadlords' forces, but also utterly destroyed the last major contingent of human forces in Lordaeron. She forced Varimathras into her service in exchange for sparing his life and took control of the ruined capital of Lordaeron as her own. Within the sewer system of the ruined city Arthas had constructed his throne room; but with Arthas now gone, Sylvanas claimed this Undercity as her capital and set out to expand her ranks by freeing even more undead. Dubbing her band of free-willed undead the Forsaken, Sylvanas worked to ensure that the damned such as herself would have a home free from threats by the living. To ensure their survival, the Forsaken have forged an alliance of convenience with the Horde, which has some sympathy for the Forsaken's condition. The orcs, having been enthralled to demon masters for a generation, felt an obligation to help similarly liberated people. Among the tauren the Forsaken found a champion in Magatha Grimtotem, who argued in favor of the alliance between the two peoples and who continues to work closely with them. Magatha claims she merely wants to aid the Forsaken in their quest to redeem themselves, although there are many who believe her true motives to be something very different and much less innocent. The Darkspear trolls are not particularly fond of the Forsaken because of their shamanistic beliefs, but tolerate them and have learned to trust them in times of war. The blood elves trust them more than the other members of the Horde and the trust is seemingly mutual as Sylvanas was a major component of the elves joining the Horde. While the Horde does not fully trust the Forsaken and vice versa, it is a start. All members of the Forsaken race are either humans or of elven descent (high elves and half-elves). However they also control a few abominations as well. The Royal Apothecary Society has independently accepted in a few undead dwarves, leper gnomes, even some orcs, and trolls have joined the society, as apothecaries, but these are not considered true Forsaken. 'Chronicles of Azeroth Lore' 'The Rise of the Grand Apothecary' The Apothecary Society was taken over after the sanctions wrought upon it by the Horde after the Wrathgate events. The Society was, at first, under heavy oversight by then Sub-Commander Belmont, but a clever and evil apothecary quickly took over the Society and managed to use political menouvering to remove such heavy sanctions from both the infamiously dispising Sub-Commander Belmont, and the Horde. It was soon very clear that Sylvanas answered to this new apothecary, named Richard. He was soon announced Grand Apothecary, the second one. This surprised many, because the only other Grand Apothecary was Putress, and he nearly destroyed the War Effort. However, Richard was not entirely successful, and Sub-Commander Belmont, the brilliant Deathstalker commander, became a thorn in his side. However, more and more sects of the Forsaken society fell to the odd influence of Richard. Eventually, the Commander van Acker eventually appeared to fall to his influence. Van Acker was the only member of the Deathstalkers higher ranking than Belmont, but many were more loyal to the brilliant technocrat, Belmont, then the politician, van Acker. A large portion of the Deathstalkers were supporting the loyal-to-Richard van Acker, but the major portion supported the Sub-Commander, who was not loyal to Richard. The regular military, the Royal Guard, and most of the Deathguards were controlled by Richard. All of the military that was controlled had focused on the Siege of the Monestary of the Black Rose. The Grand Apothecary had, in large part, taken over. 'Political Turmoil' Soon, with the Uprising gaining steam, and the Sepulcher becoming a secret base, political turmoil was rampant in the Undercity. Those worried about the Uprising wondered why the Grand Forsaken focused too much on the Knights of the Black Rose, a tiny Light-cult that had stood ground in the old Scarlet Monestary. Now, it was under siege, but the siege had gone on for months. Those who wondered too loudly were normally silenced-- except Belmont. Whatever strange wave of control the Grand Apothecary seemed to have was immune to the now highly vocal politician, the Sub-Commander of the Deathstalkers. No matter how many times Belmont had attempts on his unlife, or how many times he was ordered to leave the Undercity, he managed to worm his way out of it through brilliant political menouvering, and was quickly becoming the largest opposition to Apothecary control within the Undercity scene. Eventually, his commander, van Acker, was forced to leave for another reason. The leave of absense from the Undercity political scene was the last, and largest, rope holding Belmont back. Belmont quickly used brilliant manipulation and an astute control over the Undercity lower class to stir up political turmoil. He used the Deathstalkers in the Undercity, those loyal to him, to cleverly invade the Apothecarium, and a skirmish of a stand-off. This major event shook loose the blindfold of the then-silent Lady Sylvanas. She and the Royal Guard stopped the skirmish, with difficulty. The Apothecarium Guard, a remarkably powerful military force, continued trying to fight long after the skirmish was over. Then, the unthinkable happened. An undiscovered assassin shot the Dark Lady in the forehead. Being undead, this did not immediately kill her, but she was gravely injured. Belmont, a servant of the Dark Lady that was famous for being incomprehendably loyal, was charged with investigating. He decided that the assassin was a member of the Royal Apothecarium. As such, the then-leader, Majordomo and Grand Apothecary Richard was replaced with the should-be Majordomo, the Plaguebringer. After the massive political turmoil after the grave injury of the Dark Lady, van Acker returned. The Plaguebringer charged him with being the Acting Majordomo, and the Grand Executor became the Lord of the Forsaken, a rank just below the Majordomo, held formerly by the Plaguebringer himself. Richard was on heavy investigation, and his political strength was apparently slipping. The Plaguebringer was slowly, however, becoming more turned towards his desires. However, Richard remained out of the political scene for quite awhile. His puppet, van Acker, tried his best to keep Belmont on a short leash. 'The Battle of the Bulwark and the Aftermath' Soon, however, Belmont's incredible military skills were needed. The De Facto Leader, the Plaguebringer himself was asking for his aid. As such, the quarralling four were forced to put aside their differences, as a massive army of the Undead was seen marching towards the Bulwark, ready for invasion. The four brilliant military leaders, and de facto political leaders, were the Plaguebringer, Commander van Acker, the Grand Executor, and the Sub-Commander Belmont. They had almost the entire military of the Bulwark, except for a small force of the Deathguard, to hold the Siege of the Monestary of the Black Rose. As the inexplicable undead forces crashed, hard, into the Bulwark, the smaller Forsaken force was scattered. Belmont took his most loyal back with crossbows and took an elevated, hidden position. From that position, he quickly, and brutally, injured van Acker. His traitorous act went unnoticed to those that were not in on the plan. Then, when the battle looked like it was about to be lost, Belmont's forces rushed forward, flanking the undead in a surprise attack. The attack was successful, and the undead were obliterated. Then, van Acker was found, brutally injured and very close to death. He was rushed back, and the Plaguebringer assigned the Grand Executor, and as many Deathguards and regular military he could spare from the Siege, to hold the Bulwark. Then, the Deathstalkers and the Plaguebringer began to return. On the treck back, they were suddenly ambushed by members of the Knights of the Black Rose. During the attack, Haelcos, a Knight, managed to badly injure the Plaguebringer. His cronies and him killed and maimed many of the Richard-loyal Deathstalker officers, before being pushed back by Belmont. Belmont returned, and through easy political menouvering, managed to use the injury and near-death of his superiors to, at first, Commander of the Deathstalkers, then he became Lord of the Forsaken, as the Grand Executor was the Majordomo, and there was no official leader. In the absense of the Grand Executor, Belmont became the official leader of the Forsaken. 'The Battle of the Undercity and the Aftermath' The Grand Apothecary was not impressed with this turn of events, and the apparent failure of the Siege on the Black Rose Monestary infuriated him more. Everything seemed to be falling to peices as Belmont managed to seize control of the Forsaken directly out from under his nose, all because of the assassination attempt of someone who not even Richard knew who was. It was clear that he wasn't an Apothecary member, but he doubted that Belmont would be disloyal enough to attack the Dark Lady. Though, as Belmont began to march onto the Apothecary with the soul and obvious purpose of shutting it down, the whole situation became obvious. Belmont had orchaestrated the entire thing. He was working with the Knight, Haelcos, to organize the Knights, and he was working directly with the Resistance. He staged the Resistance's undead army to attack the Bulwark, pretending to be Scourge. He even ordered a Deathstalker to assassinate the Dark Lady, but fail. He then orchaestrated the death of his superiors, and managed to put the Grand Executor out of the picture. Belmont then took over, and was there to end the Apothecarium, an organization he notoriously hated. However, Richard was wrong. Richard still under-estimated Belmont, believing that Belmont was not aware of how Richard had taken over the minds of so many of the Forsaken leadership, including the Dark Lady. Belmont was, indeed, quite aware of what was happening, using his low class contacts to infiltrate the Royal Apothecary Society. Indeed, Richard thought that Belmont thought that he was marching to defeat Richard, and Richard knew that, if that was Belmont's purpose, he would fail. Belmont's Royal Guard was not in his control, the regular military wasn't in his control, Richard thought that the Deathguards were loyal to the Grand Apothecary, and knew that the Deathstalkers, though unbelievably talented as they were, couldn't fight the entire Grand Forsaken Military alone. Richard, however, was wrong. Belmont was not marching to win, but to spark Civil War. He knew he did not march to win the battle, but the battle would spark a civil war that would start the Battle of the Undercity. When Belmont took over the Apothecarium, his success was shortlived. As the regular military, the Apothecarium Guard, and the Royal Guard marched to quell what they called Belmont's Rebellion, he clashed and stood his ground. The Battle of the Undercity, and the Forsaken Civil War, had begun, but Richard still did not know it. He didn't know that the Garnd Executor had been assassinated, and that one of hte two High Executors was loyal to Belmont. He didn't know that the Deathguards had completely given up on fighting on the Siege, and he didn't know that the Knights were marching to the gates of the Undercity, or that the majority of the Deathguards were with him, the rest being at the Bulwark, unaware of the military coup. Belmont's Stand lasted a day, holding the Apothecarium as the High Executor and the Knights slowly made way into the Undercity. Suddenly, the siege on the Apothecarium was broken from a surprise attack from behind. Richard, unaware that the Deathguards and Deathstalkers were pouring into the Sewer Entrance, and the regular entrance. Deathstalkers previously thought dead during the Battle of the Bulwark were fighting, and most of the Deathguard's forces were there. Belmont broke away, having his top Lieutenant hold the Apothecarium as he fought his way to the Royal Wing. The Undercity was in chaos, war was everywhere. Fire and rubble had scattered the "streets". Civilians hid wherever they could, as the military launched in a vicious Civil War. Belmont crashed into the Royal Wing, meeting massive resistance. Finally, he broke through, the High Executor in toe. Belmont was then engaged in a one-on-one with the infamiously powerful Richard. He slew Richard, but Richard came back. This time, the near-dead van Acker killed him from a stab to the back, and the decapitation. Van Acker was then killed by yet another Richard. Richard was slain by a passing soldier, and the Royal Wing was largely won. Lady Sylvanas was nowhere to be found, and Belmont didn't look surprised. Soon, the battle came to an end as the forces royal to Richard were forced out of the city. Those who surrendered were thrown into make-shift dungeons in the Apothecarium, and the Civilians were allowed to try and rebuild their existances in the broken, rubble-filled Undercity. Richard fled to Brill, where he met with the few Deathguards still loyal to him. However, he was soon forced out and, in a series of skirmishes and battles, was forced to the secret base at the Sepulcher. At the line to Silverpine Forest, Belmont held. 'The Forsaken Civil War' It was clear to everyone that the Uprising had ended, and the Civil War had begun. WIth most of the civilians at Belmont's back, as the Lord of the Forsaken, and the de facto leader of the Forsaken, the clear-cut larger force was Belmont, claiming the Right to the Grand Forsaken. However, Richard had about half of the military behind him, and claimed the right as Grand Apothecary. The leadership of the Grand Forsaken was contested, and the Civil War in a standstill. The Forsaken Resistance was still a non-entity, or so it was largely believed. It was now considered logical rumor that Belmont was in coersion with the Resistance, and the Knights of the Black Rose had become completely unrelated. After the "liberation", they became reclusive, and the Grand Forsaken ignored them completely. Behind the Silverpine Parallel, the Royal Apothecary Society and their forces bide their time, awaiting their time to strike, or be stricken... Richard continues to plot, still in shock from the sudden, jarring loss of power. To the north, the New Lordaeron forces held the strongest fortification in the world, a part from the Grand Forsaken's own Silverpine Parallel. From Fenris Isle, a new threat arises, ominious, shrouded in mist... There's only one way left to go: Graymane Wall. 'The Grand Forsaken' 'Subfactions and Heirarchy' The Grand Forsaken is the original faction that Richard broke off from. The Hierarchy is scattered with the loss of both the Plaguebringer and the Dark Lady. 'Faction Leadership' : Official Leader - Unoccupied :: (Previously held by the Dark Lady) : Majordomo - Unoccupied :: (Previously held by Varimathras and the Plaguebringer) : Lord of the Forsaken - Deathstalker Commander Belmont (de facto faction leader) :: (Previously held by the Plaguebringer, the Grand Executor, & Deathstalker Commander van Acker) 'Military Subfactions' Military Subfactions are the various factions within the military. The "Faction Leadership" accounts for the overall commanders of all Military factions and subfactions. 'The Regular Military' Regular military is the grunts and footmen of the Forsaken military. They are the simplest form, ranging from archers, to siege operators, to regular footmen. They work as the main body of the military. : High Commander - Unoccupied : Commander - Unoccupied : Colonel - Delerick Greb (de facto subfaction leader) The Deathguards The Deathguards are elite footmen, they double as 'town guardsmen. Trusted with the most important bodyguard work, they are often more talented then the Royal Guard. Due to the loyalty of the Royal Guard to Richard, the Deathguards have been tasked with guarding the Lord of the Forsaken, but are not actively taking on this task on orders of said Lord of the Forsaken. : Grand Executor - Unoccupied :: (Previously held by the Grand Executor Wroth) : High Executor - High Executor Anslem (de facto leader) 'The Deathstalkers The Deathstalkers are the most elite military force in the Forsaken military, and probably Azeroth, as far as assassins go. The Deathstalkers are, without doubt, the most brutally skilled assassins, scouts, and covert operations experts in active movement. As such, they were renowned, once, for never having lost a battle. Ironically, the considered "most talented commander ever" is the reason why they can no longer say this. The Deathstalkers, of late, have had to wage their most dangerous war: against themselves. Once they threw off the bounds of Varimathras, they became a part of the Grand Forsaken military officially. Ever since, the brilliant technocrat and commander, Belmont, has upset the balance of power in the Eastern Kingdoms and instigated, with the help of other powerful Forsaken, one of the most notable military coups in Azerothian history. : Deathstalker Commander - Belmont :: (Previously held by Aleric Hawkins, van Acker, and Varimathras) : Sub-Commander - Goss :: (Previously held by van Acker and Belmont) : Captain - Renolds, Stone :: (Previously held by Goss) : Major - Yorick, among others... :: (Previously held by Renolds) 'Religious Factions' 'The Cult of the Forgotten Shadow' The Cult is a mysterious organization that almost all of the Forsaken are unified underneath. Ironically, it's not really a cult. The reason for the name is, to this date, completely unknown. It is vaguely aknowledged to be semi-satirical. The depth of the knowledge is strange and intricate, but the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow is not evil by nature. Indeed, many of the acolytes believe in goodness and other such attributes. : Grand Acolyte - Unknown : High Acolyte - Unknown, Unknown 'Knights of the Black Rose' Though they do not claim to be members of the Grand Forsaken, they are under the dominion and loosely affiliated with the Grand Forsaken, so, for all intents and purposes, are considered members. The Knights, in a large part, are "opposites" of the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow. It might be said that they are two sides of the same coin. They have very similar standards of goodness, loyalty, and such, but go about their application of said beliefs differently. Ironically, considering the names, the Knights of the Black Rose is a cult, whereas the Forgotten Shadow is not. Though, like the Cult, no one knows their leadership. : Highlord - Unknown : Knight-Lord - Unkown (suspected to be Haelcos*) : Knight-Captain - Unknown, Unknown Haelcos is an interesting individual who is notable for leading the Knight's co-attack with the Deathguards during the second Battle of the Undercity. Because of his organization and apparent leadership position, it is believed that he is the Knight-Lord, but no one knows if this is true or not. His history and true identity is shrouded in mystery. Haelcos is unlikely to be his real identity. He is also the only widely known member of the Knights of the Black Rose, and is currently working as liason to the Argent Crusade's Darrowmere Protectorate. 'Other Subfactions' 'The Royal Apothecary Society' The Royal Apothecary Society, RAS, is inactive in the Grand Forsaken. As such, they are currently not ''officially defunct, but there are no members. Likewise, they lack a heirarchy. The Lord of the Forsaken has not yet decreed on their future. 'The Defilers' The Defilers were once a rather large faction that fought in the Arathi Basin. However, with the Rise of Stromgarde, they were slaughtered, and their leadership destroyed. As such, most of the Defilers joined the Deathguards, and a few joined the Deathstalkers. They are inactive, but technically not defunct. There are no current members. Likewise, they lack a heirarchy. Richard's "Grand" Forsaken Richard's Forsaken has, by in large, been quite secretive of their organization. The main leadership is the Royal Apothecary Society. Richard, as leader, is the Grand Apothecary, and the leadership has been entirely unaknowledged underneath him. There is apparently no heirarchy, a part from Richard himself. There are, however, subfactions. 'Military Subfactions' These are much less diverse then Belmont's Grand Forsaken, but he has much larger portions of the Regular Military, which make up a vast, vast majority of Richard's military force. 'The Regular MIlitary' Much like the regular military loyal to Belmont, this is only different from them in the fact of their leadership being more complete. The most senior of their leaders are with Richard. : High Commander - Grayson : Apothecary Overseer - Nalth : Commander - various 'The Deathguards' This was the slightly-under-half of the force of Deathguards that were split in half upon the death of the Grand Executor. The two local High Executors were both loyal to Belmont or Richard, respectively. The Deathguards were split about 3/5 with Belmont, 2/5 with Richard. Richard has apparently not made a new Grand Executor, much like Belmont. : Grand Executor - Unoccupied : Apothecary Overseer - Ross : High Executor - Hadrec 'The Deathstalkers' There are ''no loyal Deathstalkers to Richard. As such, there is no heirarchy. 'Religious Subfactions' Richard's Forsaken is almost fanatically dedicated to Richard. The entire faction is cult-like. As such, any religious belief is strictly banned.